Hassled for riding at the speed limit...

[zzzbang]

Haha - your spelling is ridiculously funny...you don't spell warrant as warrent too do you?

sigh.. guess il edit that out now

[Tink]

Oh wow, I wish I was next to you when you gave the "pissed off sign".... people that drive business vehicles are always in a hurry, and totally tail gate in auckland (most I have experienced anyway).

You have every right to do 50 (45km) lol .... I have been booked TWICE for doing 56 and 58km per hour... so keep up the good work... and cruise when its needed... I wish I had.. "yes in a car"... lol

But in that same sense.... best to keep the anger down... the most chilled out person wins in the end... my dear sweet old aunt was put thru the shits once when a big fella got out his car (traffic stopped) and told her to get out... she is 5ft nothing and 70.... just cause she tooted at him... what is happening to this place...

[Ragingrob]

Crikey the main roads (you know the ones with more traffic trying to get past) aren't that narrow.

The ones with more traffic are usually too busy and everyone's up everyone's ass. No way would I pull to the left to let someone pass, I'll be hit by an opening car door or a car pulling out from the left or someone turning right in front of me cause they think I'm turning left.

Main roads are where you'd wanna be as visible as possible, not visibly pulling over so that everybody will then try push past you.

[GOONR]

I rode a little 50cc moped for a bit, if I went down hill with the wind behind me and farted I could get 80k "indicated" out of it.. Cars still right up with me, it just seemed to me that because I was on a moped every car driver thought they had to tailgate...

What really got them though was the up hill just after that, I could only get 35k and if they had been a plonker I would stay bang in the middle of the road.

[Metalor]

JUst pull the cunt out of the truck and slam his face into the footstep. End.

[cheshirecat]

I let them overtake me - pull to one side even. They then find out it's even more uncomfortable having a bike's twin headlights in their mirrors, (about three car lengths behind I might add so they can't accuse me of tailgating)
By and large though I just let it go but on occaisons they can be baited ever so subtlely. The bottom line for me is that its always two tons of steel against flesh and bone so my first option is to let it go.

[Skinnyninny]

Ok hows this for a story...

Today i was riding off to work minding my own business at like 8 in the morning comeing passed the torbay shops when some prat in a silver SUV (Have his REGO )decided that my speed of 55km/h was not fast enough. He sat on my rear wheel about 1 meter back. I do the whole turn around and look at him and symbolizing how close he is by looking at his bumper then back at him. After i did this i thought ok... he knows hes too close so i continue singing away and having a jolly old time when i look again and this time he is roughly 30 cm away from me . Now i'm angry!! so i contiunue on when all of a sudden WOOOOOOSH he overtakes me into on comeing traffic he goes traveling at about 70 km/h, now he passed soo close i was forced to the hard shoulder where i almost crashed, i felt the wind off his bumber across my leg when he came passed and his wing mirror just missed my head. So anyways thats my story, so i know how you feel mate! Anyways the prat should get a nice letter from the police soon

Dan

[sunhuntin]

try having a bus bearing down on you. ive been gated now by the same bus twice. next time im going to let him go past, follow him to the school, get the rego and make a complaint. the real bitch is that he transports kids from the school around the corner. id be horrified if i had a kid on that bus, knowing how bad a driver he is. last time, he was coming up behind me at the lights. i got away before he had the chance to stop [they changed to green] and was off away over the bridge, expecting to leave him in the dust. not even. he must have been travelling at least 60 or more. and the closer he got to his turn off, the closer he got to me. why do people do that??
ive also been gated by buses for two nearby country schools. one was on a really busy street early in the am. not any decent spots to pull over as theres a shopping center. i managed to turn down a side street... indicated early, and the stupid bitch still nearly collected me when i braked.

[Gizzit]

As some of you have suggested, chilling out is the better thing to do, than getting angry. I'm am generally a very chilled person, preferring to have a laugh about life at every opportunity, and rarely get real angry.
I'm definitely not an aggressive person, but will always defend myself or others from people who try to bully or intimidate in any way. It just tends to get my heckles up!

By riding on two wheels, we are inherently vulnerable on the road, and car/truck/bus drivers need to back off. Any mistake, and we are the ones to get hurt.

It's not a new experience for me .... it just pissed me off !!!

I do ride a lot, too and from work, and in weekends. In my job, I drive a car every day, and have had many many years of driving experience .... in all sorts of vehicles, and in quite a few different countries.

I know if I was driving a heavy vehicle, or slow vehicle, and it was safe too, I would always pull over to the shoulder of the road, and let others pass. But if you are doing the general speed limit, what ever vehicle you are in, it's up to other drivers to safely overtake you. I believe you do need to give consideration to them to allow them do so safely, .... rather than ignore them or worse, try and prevent them from passing you ....

It's different on a bike/scooter in urban areas, where the speed limit is 50k, and as some have pointed out .... moving over to the left is not really an option with parked cars, lack of room to do so safely, .... means people do need to be patient .... or go for it, but do it safely .... not bullying us off the road!
I'm not pretending that I've been an angel in the speed department, by any means ......
But I think that given that there are various speed limits.... it should be 'OK' to do the speed limit .... without being hassled !!

[35tickets]

After reading Dans post similar thing happened to me on way to work... Approaching the lights at Snapper Rock Rd/Albany highway this morning. Was doing the speed limit and the light was red. As I started to slow down a red SUV was stopped in the right hand lane, then I noticed the light go green so I just got up to speed limit again and just cruised by and carried on.....

So then woman driving suv rips past me doing over 70 in the 50 zone and cuts me off...then pulls to the right and tries to cut a car off by turning right and gets held up by traffic,,,,,Oh you were really clever weren't you stupid b*t*h....needless to say middle finger goes up

Honestly didn't see the point in what she did at all....add her to the list of crap drivers in Auckland....oh and whangarei is full of crap drivers too....I know I had the misfortune of living there once....

[Duc]

Here is what I do when I ride , drive or walk.

I make my own space. ie a zone of safety... front, rear and sideways.

If it means going with the flow or avoiding a tailgater ...thats what I do.

What I dont do is stand on principle because dead is dead. (Id rather get a ticket if it meant saving my arse)

[awayatc]

I agree with Duc.....I overtake regularly to get rid of a tailgaiter..regardless of speedlimit.
Quite prepared to defend it if i would get ticketed for that.....
Just preserving my life your honour....

[greminn]

I had an interesting issue like this yesterday in the cage... coming back from Auckland to Tauranga, I normally head towards Hamilton then turn off and go thru Tahuna to matamata.

It was dark when i left and traffic was OK... bit of switching lanes on the motorway, I came off the bombays and cruzing at 110 or so with abit of traffic behind me. The radar detector went mad so i just took the foot off the gas and a comode went past going the other way and the radar stopped... OK. under cover i thought.

Turned off to Tahuna and crusing for a while, a car comes up behind be quite quickly and sticks on my tail (quite close). I was in cruze mode, so 105-110 for 20mins or so, this guy is still at the back. Slowed down, he still wouldnt pass me... speed up... radar goes mad! I stuck to my guns under 110 and he finally floored it past me. The dude was a undercover!!

What a wanker.

[vgcspares]

Dude, what is a speed limit and in what way does it apply to a bike?

totally agree

and anyone riding "on the speed limit" and not showing courtesy to people who want to pass deserves the hand sign - since when did the Road Code empower people to be quazi-cops ?

[sunhuntin]

in a 50k zone, there should be no reason to pass. hell, i haad some twat gate me the other night and then went screaming past, with a fucking trailer... that was on a straight 50k. had i not been there, travelling at the allowed speed, chances are the same twat would have run my dad over as he had just crossed the road ahead [unknown to me as i didnt realise it was him till i was past already]